


Hold On Loosely, Don't Let Go

by AnonymousSpacePrince



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Everything is tehcnically platonic but yknow.. tone, Fluff, M/M, Nothing outright coupley happens but it's v soft and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 08:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9597425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousSpacePrince/pseuds/AnonymousSpacePrince
Summary: "It's not-" Nursey stops, tries again. "The typing isn't really the main problem." He takes a deep breath, another one of the shuddering inhales that makes Dex worry.Dex tries to help Nursey when his thoughts get so loud he can't hear them anymore. (Or, something like that.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I think most people who write for this fandom tend to project their feelings onto Dex, but I tend to project mine onto Nursey. I guess I just relate to Nursey more (even though I'm as white as Dex) because I, too, am a clumsy poetry nerd with financial privilege and a lot of Feelings™. Also, I love Dex taking the soft and gentle role when Nursey loses his chill, so there's that too.
> 
> Anyway! Here's me projecting onto Nursey because today was so overwhelming I could hardly breathe for a while there. (Writing this really helped me find my chill.)

    Nursey barrels into the attic unexpectedly, stuttering on his long legs like a fawn learning to walk. He throws the door closed more than he slams it, and wastes no time finding his way onto his bed- the bottom bunk, for obvious reasons- and curling up so his knees are pressed against the wall that's a couple inches in front of his face.  
  
    "Uh," Dex says, from where he's sitting at the desk working on homework. "You okay, Nurse?"  
  
    "Yeah, just- please don't talk to me right now."  
  
    Dex smirks and says, "I thought we were friends, man."  
  
    Nursey shudders an inhale and Dex's smirk drops, being replaced quickly by a slight frown of concern. "We are," Nursey says.  
  
    Dex expects more, but it doesn't come. Dex doesn't know what's going on or what he's supposed to do, so he stops talking and goes back to his homework.  
  
    After a few minutes of silence, Nursey moves until he's on his stomach, splayed out with his face pressed into the pillow. From where he's sitting, Dex can see the fingers on Nursey's left hand dig into his pillow until his knuckles turn white.  
  
    "Nursey, seriously, are you okay?"  
  
    "Your typing is just kind of making me want to peel off my own skin," Nursey says, but it feels like an evasion more than an answer.  
  
    "Oh, sorry," Dex says anyway, and closes his laptop.  
  
    "It's not-" Nursey stops, tries again. "The typing isn't really the main problem." He takes a deep breath, another one of the shuddering inhales that makes Dex worry. "I'm just- okay, it doesn't matter. I don't want you to see this, but everything downstairs is majorly overwhelming and the library is way too quiet for me right now."  
  
    Dex tries to figure out how those two completely opposite things could be intolerable at the same time. "What is it, exactly, that you don't want me to see?" Dex asks.  
  
    Nursey sits up, fingers still dug into his pillow, and looks at Dex. Nursey looks normal on the outside. Content, even. "It's- it doesn't matter. I really don't wanna try to deal with the chirps."  
  
    "Come on, Derek, you know I wouldn't chirp you about something so serious." Dex still doesn't know what's going on, but he can tell it's serious.  
  
    Nursey raises his eyebrow. "Do I? You chirped me for like a week when that guy turned me down at the kegster."  
  
    "Well, _yeah_ , because he was a dumbass and you were way out of his league, not because you got turned down."  
  
    "Oh."  
  
    "Please tell me what's going on, because it's freaking me out and I don't know how to help."  
  
    "It's- fine, my mind is just _buzzing_ , like there are fucking bees in it or something, and they're all stinging my brain enough to make it ache without going numb."  
  
    Dex looks a little horrified.  
  
    "It's hard to explain. It's just- like, my thoughts are hyperactive and they won't shut up but it feels like literally nothing is going on in my head at the same time. Like a silent disco, or something." Nursey breathes in slowly, like he's trying hard to center himself. "It's really overwhelming and it almost never happens but when it does it's really horrible and I don't feel like I can function. And I never know how to make it stop."  
  
    He looks like he's about to snap his own fingers off against his pillow, so Dex walks over. "Okay, hey," he says softly. "It's okay. Let me try to help?"  
  
    Nursey isn't used to Dex being so gentle, especially with him. He's wary of the change, but if there's a chance in hell Dex can actually help, Nursey's not gonna stop him from trying. "Okay."  
  
    "Okay, good." Dex slides back so his back is against the wall, and then tells Nursey, "come here."  
  
    Nursey's skeptical, but he listens anyway, sliding over until he's beside Dex. Dex pulls Nursey's legs over his own so they're intersecting, and then wraps his arm around Nursey's shoulders and pulls him in close. Nursey doesn't know how this is supposed to help him, but he slides his arm around Dex's back and settles in against his side.  
  
    Dex traces slow, soft patterns on Nursey's knee with his fingertips. Nursey watches the movement, and feels it, and after a moment it's easier to breathe. It's a similar feeling to cracking your back after it's been hurting all day, and Nursey breathes a soft sigh.  
  
    "Is this helping at all?" Dex asks softly.  
  
    "Yeah. I didn't expect it to, but it really is."  
  
    "I'm glad," Dex responds.  
  
    Nursey leans into him a little more, using Dex's shoulder as a pillow. "Thank you." The words are hardly more than a whisper.  
  
    "No worries," Dex says, the picture of nonchalance.  
  
    "You don't understand, Will," Nursey says. "No one's ever helped. My parents always gave me tea, but they never figured out how to help. My friends- the few that ever saw me like this- never even really tried. I had a girlfriend in high school that always tried, but like, too hard, and she usually just made it worse. Nobody has ever been able to help me like this. I feel like I can breathe again."  
  
    "Oh, wow. Well, I'm glad you let me try."  
  
    "Me too," Nursey says.  
  
  
    Later on, after Nursey settles enough for Dex to bring his laptop over and finish his homework, and after Bitty makes a pie and Dex retrieves a couple slices and comes right back up to eat them with Nursey, after night falls and they get ready to go to sleep, Nursey hesitates for a second after crawling into his bed.  
  
    "Hey," he says. Dex stops where he's about to pull himself up to the top bunk.  
  
    "Hm?"  
  
    "Do you- uh, will you stay down here with me tonight?" Nursey asks, unsure if he's asking too much. He bunches his sheets up between his fingers out of habit. "I just kinda feel like I'll sleep better if you're with me," he says honestly.  
  
    Dex smiles, softly, in a way that Nursey's never seen before. "No problem," he says. He climbs into Nursey's bed beside him, settles right in like it's his own bed. Nursey's still sitting up, looking conflicted, so Dex opens his arms until Nursey settles down against his side. Nursey wonders if Dex likes having him there as much as he likes being there. If his thumb softly brushing back and forth against Nursey's shoulder blade is anything to go by, maybe he does.  
  
    Dex is in his boxers and a plain white t-shirt, while Nursey is wearing a pair of flannel pants, but no shirt. Nursey feels enough like himself to admire the sort of poetic juxtaposition of them being half-naked in opposite ways. He thinks about that until he tunes into Dex's steady heartbeat under his ear, and then he focuses on the sound of it until he falls asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This was shorter than most of the stuff I post because I wrote it in like an hour earlier today. I have upwards of a half dozen other works in progress, so I'll hopefully post more pretty soon.
> 
> It's late and I'm tired and I always do my own editing and proofreading, so let me know if I missed any mistakes.


End file.
